1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is directed to surgical stapling devices and sutures and, in particular, a buttress device used in connection or in combination with a surgical instrument for ensuring that an optimal amount of tissue compression is applied to tissue for an optimal formation of staples and sutures. Even more particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a buttress device that provides a visual indication to the surgeon that the optimal amount of tissue compression has been reached, and that it is the proper time to apply the surgical element.
2. Description of the Related Art
Anastomosis is the surgical joining of separate hollow organ sections. Typically, an anastomotic procedure follows surgery in which a diseased or defective section of hollow tissue is removed. Thereafter, the procedure has the steps that the remaining end tissue sections are to be joined. Depending on the desired anastomotic procedure, the end sections may be joined by either circular, end-to-end, end-to-side, or side-to-side organ reconstruction methods.
In a known circular anastomosis procedure, two ends of organ sections are joined by a stapling device. The stapling device can drive a circular array of staples through the end of each organ section. The device can simultaneously core any tissue interior of the driven circular array of staples to free a tubular passage. Many examples for performing circular anastomosis of hollow organs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,959,851, 6,053,390, 5,588,579, 5,119,983, 5,005,749, 4,646,745, 4,576,167, and 4,473,077, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Typically, these devices include an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end thereof to effect actuation of the device. The device also has a staple holding component disposed at a distal end thereof. An anvil assembly including an anvil rod with an attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end of the device. The anvil is adjacent a staple holding component. Opposed end portions of tissue of the hollow organ(s) to be stapled are clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The clamped tissue is stapled by driving one or more staples having a predetermined size from the staple holding component. In this manner, the ends of the staples pass through the tissue and are deformed by the anvil head. An annular knife is advanced to core tissue within the hollow organ. In this manner, the knife frees a tubular passage within the organ.
Surgical stapling devices for performing circular anastomosis have also been used to treat internal hemorrhoids in the rectum. During the use of a circular stapling device for hemorrhoid treatment, the anvil head and the staple holding component of the surgical stapling device are inserted through the anus and into the rectum with the anvil head and the staple holding component in an open or un-approximated position. Thereafter, a suture is used to pull the internal hemorrhoidal tissue and/or mucosal tissue towards the anvil rod. Next, the anvil head and the staple holding component are approximated to clamp the hemorrhoidal tissue and/or mucosal tissue between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The stapling device is fired to remove the hemorrhoidal tissue and/or mucosal tissue and staple the cut tissue. Sutures are also known in the art to connect or join tissue. Although the use of circular anastomosis staplers for hemorrhoid treatment has many benefits often, a surgeon will encounter, over the course of a surgical procedure, one or more different types of tissue in the body for which to apply a surgical element such as a staple.
Non-circular stapling devices are also known in the art. In endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures, surgery is performed through a small incision or through a narrow cannula inserted through a small entrance wound in the skin. In order to address the specific needs of endoscopic and/or laparoscopic surgical procedures, endoscopic surgical stapling devices have been developed and are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,715 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,976 (Olson, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,023 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,221 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,013 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,142 (Robinson, et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,139 (Milliman et al.), the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference. These non-circular or linear stapling devices are useful for gastrointestinal or bariatric surgery and include a staple cartridge and an anvil for applying titanium surgical staples into the body to join or connect tissue sections to one another.
Some other tissue types include cardiac tissue, colorectal tissue, gastrointestinal tissue, and pulmonary tissue. In these different types of tissues, there may be a number of different other types of classes of such tissue, such as ischemic tissue, or diseased tissue, thick tissue, tissue treated with medicines or compounds, diabetic tissue, as well as numerous others. However, one of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that the present disclosure is not limited to diseased tissue.
It is desired to ensure proper formation of the respective surgical element (such as the array of staples) into such tissue. It has been observed that with certain types of tissue such as ischemic tissue, or diabetic tissue an amount of compression can be applied to the tissue for an optimal time period to assist the instrument.
However, further compression for a time period (after an optimal time period) is not favored. In the surgical environment, it is difficult to visually appreciate the optimal amount of compression that should be applied to the various tissue types, and also it is difficult to visually appreciate the optimal time period for tissue compression. It should be appreciated that tissue compression is not limited to diseased tissue, and it is envisioned that compression may be applied to other instances where non-diseased tissue is encountered in the surgical procedure to ensure a positive surgical outcome.
Accordingly, a continuing need exists in the art for a device that provides an indication to the surgeon that a threshold compression has been reached and that the surgical element should be applied to the tissue (such as a staple). A continuing need exists in the art for a device that is used in connection with a surgical instrument that can act as an intermediary between the instrument and the tissue so the tissue is optimally compressed by the intermediary for proper formation of the surgical element such as a staple without damaging the tissue. There is also a need for a material that can support thin diseased tissue during stapling so the compression cannot damage the tissue. There is also a need in the art for a device that can reinforce a staple line and to redistribute the pressure gradient that forms the staple line more evenly over an area of the healthy or diseased tissue.